Moving On

I
have a couple points I'd like to make. Please bear with my limited
understanding. One is that nuclear mutations are I think more common than
is generally perceived. We must remember that the likelihood of a nuclear
mutation producing a plant that is attractive and clearly worth naming is fairly
small. A high percentage of nuclear mutations would cause changes other than
variegation. Some, perhaps many would be fatal, many others would result in
stunted damaged looking plants that would fail to thrive. Others would produce
curiosities like twisted scapes, fused veins, maybe fasciated scapes, flowers
that don't form properly, loss of red pigment, and a hundred other strange
things that generally go unrecorded, much less named. I have seen all of these
in nurseries and most end up in the trash.

Another is
that 'Great Expectations' is an unusual plant, and probably should not be chosen
as an example to use in describing processes. It has a center composed of tissue
that is sufficiently lacking in chlorophyll so that a sport composed of only
that tissue cannot live, thus it acts like a white-centered type in that regard.
Yet it gives numerous gold seedlings that do have enough chlorophyll to grow, as
you would expect from a gold-centered form. In a way it is like a missing link
between the two main types of mutated tissue commonly found in Hosta. For this
reason it should be considered a special case, and we should use a more
representative plant.

What I would
like to hear from you is this: What should we keep an eye (and camera) out
for?

Unusual photos like the possible twin spot one
could be evidence of certain processes. Are there other things we can all watch
for which might be important clues to further understanding the nature of
sports?

Or simple experiments in breeding we can do and
report on? This is an area in which we need some real leadership from someone
with your background. I'm not asking you to answer this now, just keep it in
mind for later. Some of us can help with field research, and this too is a
necessary part of reaching a truly comprehensive understanding.